gre scores how high do they have to be to be competitive

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I am considering applying to crna school next year. I have 12 years of icu experience behind me. I have been working the last six years in cvicu four of those years as charge nurse. I have my ccrn and pals certification and I am an acls instructor, so i feel like clinically I am ok. I however only have a 3.0 gpa and i havent taken my gre. I am really afraid that if I do poorly on the gre they will coorelate that with my gpa. I feel that if i do well they might not weigh my gpa so heavily.I was wondering how high my gre score would have to be to be competitve. I am primarily interested in attending school in Texas.

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shoot for a combined 1100 and you should be fine. that's my opinion from what i have seen on this board and from people i know who have gotten in.

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Specializes in DNAP Student.

I agree with CougRN. 1100 combined scores is safe. Like you I was a little bit worried bout applying for school since I've been out of the "study-hard mode" for 14 years. Ive finished BSN in 1990 and although i had a good GPA( 3.9 ), the fact that I was "out of school" for that long I was a little bit nervous. I have credentials from CCRN,BC,CEN and ACLS stuffs and 14 years of CVICU charge nurse experience but still I was not sure. I studied for a month before taking the GRE and it paid off.

Good luck...

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I got in with a 3.1 and a 1260 combined. I don't know how close I was to not making the cut, but I got in. One thing that is important is that if you do well on the GRE, you need to be able to explain why your GPA is low. High GRE scores and Low GPA translates into smart underachiever to some directors. I was able to show that my GPA was low secondary to low grades early in my college experience. I said that My GPA of my recent schooling is more reflective of my GRE scores. Good Luck!

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I got in with a 3.1 and a 1260 combined. I don't know how close I was to not making the cut, but I got in. One thing that is important is that if you do well on the GRE, you need to be able to explain why your GPA is low. High GRE scores and Low GPA translates into smart underachiever to some directors. I was able to show that my GPA was low secondary to low grades early in my college experience. I said that My GPA of my recent schooling is more reflective of my GRE scores. Good Luck!

Since this issue keeps coming up, I have a question. Obviously a lot of us have some not so great grades (to put it politely) from our early college years. While the actual direct pre-req nursing credits I transferred are good, I also have some lousy grades on those same transcripts that don't have anything to do with pre-reqs or the nursing degree.

So, the question is: Do most CRNA programs insist on looking at everything? Even credits not directly related to nursing and pre-reqs that don't transfer to the degree?

:uhoh21:

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Yes but particularly at science grades! :p

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